Storycatcher: Making sense of our lives through the power and practice of story

Every person and every family has amazing stories that can move us, motivate us, guide us, and tell us who we are. As the author Christina Baldwin notes, "events become real when we organize experience into narrative." The practice of telling stories has been around as long as civilization has itself. Some consider it to be the foundation of being human. Stories benefit the teller as much as the audience. Like other skills, storytelling can be practiced and improved and the effort is worth it. Baldwin's "Storycatcher" is an award winning book whose mission is to motivate you to think about your own oral histories and then to teach you about how to capture and share them thereby creating a legacy for the generations that follow.

Through ten chapters Baldwin covers everything from the importance of storytelling to specific tips how to create your own stories. Each chapter ends with open-ended questions to help you conquer writer's block or an uncertainty where to start. From Chapter 4, "Describe a world event that changed you. How did the world look to you before it happened? How did it look to you after it happened?" Other questions are far more intimate. For example, "Describe a time that you felt afraid."

"Storycatcher" tackles a subject that we all do but rarely think about. Given the importance of storytelling in our lives and those who follow us, perhaps it's time that we think of it as an important life skill to master.

Amazon link: Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story